Synopses & Reviews
A bold, arresting new work of fiction from the acclaimed author of Everything Matters! In this tour de force of imagination, Ron Currie asks why literal veracity means more to us than deeper truths, creating yet again a genre-bending novel that will at once dazzle, move, and provoke.
The protagonist of Ron Currie, Jr.’s new novel has a problem—or rather, several of them. He’s a writer whose latest book was destroyed in a fire. He’s mourning the death of his father, and has been in love with the same woman since grade school, a woman whose beauty and allure is matched only by her talent for eluding him. Worst of all, he’s not even his own man, but rather an amalgam of fact and fiction from Ron Currie’s own life. When Currie the character exiles himself to a small Caribbean island to write a new book about the woman he loves, he eventually decides to fake his death, which turns out to be the best career move he’s ever made. But fame and fortune come with a price, and Currie learns that in a time of twenty-four-hour news cycles, reality TV, and celebrity Twitter feeds, the one thing the world will not forgive is having been told a deeply satisfying lie.
What kind of distinction could, or should, be drawn between Currie the author and Currie the character? Or between the book you hold in your hands and the novel embedded in it? Whatever the answers, Currie, an inventive writer always eager to test the boundaries of storytelling in provocative ways, has essential things to impart along the way about heartbreak, reality, grief, deceit, human frailty, and blinding love.
Review
Curries strength rests in his ability to focus humanitys conundrums on the smallest physical particles. The truth he presents is that the world has become absurd; he is merely delivering a steady-cam view.
Los Angeles Times
[A] cavalierly ambitious debut . . . with talking dogs, text messagehappy teenagers, and end-of-day shenanigans. Like Kurt Vonnegut, he seems to understand that in the face of grim and grave concerns, humor is a more powerful salt than screed.
John Freeman, San Francisco Chronicle
Review
Praise for EVERYTHING MATTERS!
“Joltingly funny…Mr. Currie is a startlingly talented writer…he survives the inevitable comparisons to Kurt Vonnegut and writes in a tenderly mordant voice of his own.” --Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“There’s nothing predictable about this story, and Currie repeatedly upends our expectations…there’s something refreshingly youthful about Currie’s eagerness to call out the big existential questions.” --Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book World
“Contains both a declaration of the possibilities of narrative fiction and, above all, a defense of good old-fashioned human resilience in the face of petty distraction and profound horror.” --Zach Baron, The Village Voice
“[A] superb novel…this is a comedy, albeit a scary one. Some scenes make you laugh out loud. There are passages of beauty and wicked turns of phrase…Marvelously, Currie suffuses his unhappy and disparate characters with salvation.” --Diana Wagman, The Los Angeles Times
“Currie mixes the weight of tragedy with a hyperbolic adventure story that’s got the international intrigue of a John le Carré thriller and the deep humor of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.” --Time Out New York
“A hugely imaginative novel loaded with narrative tricks and set pieces that let the author proudly show off his clever clockwork, but Currie keeps things thoroughly grounded in the messy, mysterious business of human interaction. A beautiful, sad and haunting book.” --National Public Radio
Praise for GOD IS DEAD “[A] cavalierly ambitious debut…with talking dogs, text message-happy teenagers, and end-of-day shenanigans. Like Kurt Vonnegut, [Currie] seems to understand that in the face of grim and grave concerns, humor is more powerful salt than screed.” --John Freeman, The San Francisco Chronicle
“Currie’s strength rests in his ability to focus humanity’s conundrums on the smallest physical particles. The truth he presents is that the world has become absurd; he is merely delivering a steady-cam view.” --The Los Angeles Times
“In his cutting-edge debut book of fiction Ron Currie, Jr. triggers…real admiration. Provocative.” --USA Today
Review
Praise for FLIMSY LITTLE PLASTIC MIRACLES
“Sharp and sarcastic, Curries dramatic story keeps you tethered in place…its a truly genuine love story wrapped in a series of comically improbable events.” —thedailybeast.com
“A powerful, brilliant, compelling novel about love, writing, fame, fiction and shame that is emotionally effective and intellectually engaging, coming as close to anything Ive read, to meeting David Foster Wallaces call for fiction that makes the head beat like the heart.” —bookslut.com
“So blisteringly funny that I laughed as I hadnt laughed in years: were talking demonic, unstoppable, dont sit next to that guy howls.” —The Washington Post
“Resounds with humor and insight into love, loss, and reality…An astonishing feat of innovation with surprises on nearly every page, Curries entrancing novel marks the work of a scathingly comic virtuoso.” —ALA Booklist
“A postmodern love story, self-consciously playful…things get both crazy and interesting…moving and hilarious.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A metafictional tangle of debauchery and technological anxiety…Told in a bouncy, pinball style, this darkly droll novel is never boring.” —Publishers Weekly
“Currie stays true to his gutsy, thoughtful, and unconventional self in this brilliant meditation on life, death, truth, and imperfection. Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles is flimsy like a brick sh*thouse. Ron Currie, Jr. is a fearless and inspired writer at the top of his game. Read him.” —Jonathan Evison, author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and West of Here
“Both a brilliantly constructed inquiry into the nature of reality and a soulful ode to the free fall of obsessive love. These two spines interweave ever more tightly till they fuse into a dazzling question mark with no easy answers. This is a beautiful book.” —Kate Christensen, author of The Astral and The Great Man
Review
Praise for FLIMSY LITTLE PLASTIC MIRACLES
“Sharp and sarcastic, Curries dramatic story keeps you tethered in place…its a truly genuine love story wrapped in a series of comically improbable events.” —thedailybeast.com
“A powerful, brilliant, compelling novel about love, writing, fame, fiction and shame that is emotionally effective and intellectually engaging, coming as close to anything Ive read, to meeting David Foster Wallaces call for fiction that makes the head beat like the heart.” —bookslut.com
“So blisteringly funny that I laughed as I hadnt laughed in years: were talking demonic, unstoppable, dont sit next to that guy howls.” —The Washington Post
“Resounds with humor and insight into love, loss, and reality…An astonishing feat of innovation with surprises on nearly every page, Curries entrancing novel marks the work of a scathingly comic virtuoso.” —ALA Booklist
“A postmodern love story, self-consciously playful…things get both crazy and interesting…moving and hilarious.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A metafictional tangle of debauchery and technological anxiety…Told in a bouncy, pinball style, this darkly droll novel is never boring.” —Publishers Weekly
“Currie stays true to his gutsy, thoughtful, and unconventional self in this brilliant meditation on life, death, truth, and imperfection. Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles is flimsy like a brick sh*thouse. Ron Currie, Jr. is a fearless and inspired writer at the top of his game. Read him.” —Jonathan Evison, author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and West of Here
“Both a brilliantly constructed inquiry into the nature of reality and a soulful ode to the free fall of obsessive love. These two spines interweave ever more tightly till they fuse into a dazzling question mark with no easy answers. This is a beautiful book.” —Kate Christensen, author of The Astral and The Great Man
Synopsis
An electrifying debut from a provocative new voice in fiction that will remind readers of the best of Vonnegut Ron Currie’s gutsy, funny book is instantly gripping: If God takes human form and dies, what would become of life as we know it? Effortlessly combining outlandish humor with big questions about mortality, ethics, and human weakness, Ron Currie, Jr., holds a funhouse mirror to our present-day world. God has inhabited the mortal body of a young Dinka woman in the Sudan. When she is killed in the Darfur desert, he dies along with her, and word of his death soon begins to spread. Faced with the hard proof that there is no supreme being in charge, the world is irrevocably transformed, yet remains oddly recognizable.
Synopsis
The electrifying, "cutting-edge" (USA Today) debut work of fiction from Ron Currie, author of the forethcoming novel The One-Eyed Man (March 2017)
Ron Currie s gutsy, funny book is instantly gripping: If God takes human form and dies, what would become of life as we know it? Effortlessly combining outlandish humor with big questions about mortality, ethics, and human weakness, Ron Currie, Jr., holds a funhouse mirror to our present-day world. God has inhabited the mortal body of a young Dinka woman in the Sudan. When she is killed in the Darfur desert, he dies along with her, and word of his death soon begins to spread. Faced with the hard proof that there is no supreme being in charge, the world is irrevocably transformed, yet remains oddly recognizable."
About the Author
Ron Currie, Jr., is the winner of the 2009 Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as the New York Public Library Young Lion’s Award for his acclaimed debut,
God Is Dead. His 2009 novel,
Everything Matters!, was an Indie Next Pick and one of Amazon’s 100 Top Books of 2009 and was named by the
Los Angeles Times as among the Best Fiction of 2009. He lives in Waterville, Maine.